


stay, gracie abrams

by 716ag



Series: rini songfic collection [2]
Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, post itikyk, song: stay (gracie abrams)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 08:35:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23348542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/716ag/pseuds/716ag
Summary: because what happened in her room was not what either of them wanted
Relationships: Ricky Bowen & Nini Salazar-Roberts, Ricky Bowen/Nini Salazar-Roberts
Series: rini songfic collection [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1679314
Comments: 8
Kudos: 36





	stay, gracie abrams

**Author's Note:**

> second/last repost of my songfic collection because i changed my mind of how i wanted to post them! sorry about that!
> 
> post itikyk  
> POV's switch, noted in bold at the start of a new scene  
> lyrics the scene is based on in italics at the start of a new scene
> 
> listen to the song before you read! also stream gracie abrams because she is a queen

**Ricky** _——_

_“You told me something when I left but I don't remember_

_Maybe 'cause all I could do then was stare at the floor”   
  
_Nini’s eyes glassed over and her head shook in disbelief as she realized Ricky was walking out on their relationship. Her words agreed with him but her voice betrayed her when it broke and got caught in her throat. Ricky couldn’t look her in the eye as she quietly fell apart, but instead glanced at his phone as it vibrated again.

“I should…it’s my mom, she’s been out of town working for like, ever.” He said, grabbing his shoes. He turned around and stared at the ground as he walked out. He mustered his strength to look at her one last time and said, “I’ll text you”. Closing the door, he didn’t see the tears well up in her eyes and her attempt to swallow the bump in her throat. He also didn’t hear her attempt to get him to stay. Her attempt to rectify what happened, because she knew both of them didn’t want this to be their reality.

He walked to the top of the stairs and couldn’t hold the tears in anymore. He fell against the back wall and held his head in his hands. “What did I just do?” He asked himself as the tears flowed. Questioning if he should turn around and go back to Nini’s room, his thoughts were interrupted by Dana at the bottom of the stairs.

“Ricky?” She asked before she saw his tear stained cheeks. “What’s wrong, where’s Nini?

He stood up and barreled down the stairs, “I gotta go.” He said hastily as he fled through the door into the pouring rain, leaving a confused Dana begging him to come back.

**Nini —**

_“I held myself 'cause you wouldn't, all wrapped in my sweatshirt_

_Wonder if you even noticed that that one was yours”_

Ricky closed the door to Nini’s room as she tried to tell him to stay. But the words got caught in her throat as the thunderstorm outside shook her window. Her mind began to wrap around the events that just occurred as her breath got ragged, tears spilling out of her eyes.

The sky shook again as Nini succumbed to her tears, falling back into the pile of pillows on her bed. Part of her wanted to run after Ricky, to stop him from leaving her house and reason with him. Tell him that he didn’t have to say it back and that this pause wasn’t necessary. To tell the boy she has loved since kindergarten that she needed him to stay.

But she couldn’t move. So in a feeble attempt to console herself, she wrapped her arms around herself and sunk deep into her pillows, the hood of her sweatshirt being pushed up onto her head. As she inhaled, she caught the faint remnants of the aftershave of the boy who had just left her room. Looking down she recognized the sweatshirt as his red Santa Barbara one she stole from him one night after bowling. Instead of pulling it off, she burrowed down deeper in it, breaking her heart even more.

**Ricky —**

_“When maybe I should've but I never told you "I'm sorry"_

_Know that I tried but my words always got in the way”_

The next morning, Ricky surprised himself when he woke up and made it to school on time. He walked down the hallway with dark eyes and a lost expression, not even noticing he was instinctively walking to Nini’s locker like he has done every morning since they first got lockers in sixth grade. His eyes left the floor for the first time since he entered the school as he realized where he was. Looking up, he locked eyes with the tiny brunette.

He couldn’t recognize them. Her eyes were full of hurt. Full of betrayal and anguish, when they were normally full of light and joy. But they were mostly full of confusion, and he could only imagine what she was thinking, mostly because he was thinking the same thing. The question of “Why did I do that?” was on a loop in his mind since he ran out of her house into the rain the night before.

With no words coming from either of their mouths and the impending ring of the tardy bell, Nini broke their eye contact and shut her locker. She began to walk away from him with a slight shake of her head, trying to hold back tears.

Ricky knew this was it. This was his only chance to take back what he said last night, his chance to tell her how sorry he was, how much he loved her. To tell her how much he wanted to FaceTime her every night at camp and that he lied when he said he had been thinking about taking a pause, because if anything, he wanted to take their relationship to the next level.

“Nini, I-“ She turned around, a fleeting spark of hope visible in her eyes as tears welled up in his. He gulped before continuing, “I don’t know what happened yesterday, I-“ But the words he wanted to say got lost in his brain as he watched the little glimpse of hope fade from her eyes. 

She paused for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts. In the softest voice she said, “I told you I loved you, and then you broke my heart.”

She gave him one last look before she turned around once more and went off to class, silently begging him to tell her what she desperately wanted to hear.

But Ricky just stood there, kicking himself for letting his lack of words fail her for the second time in the last day.  
  


**Nini —**

_“Catch myself thinking about you more than I should_

_And maybe I should've but I never told you I miss you_

_I almost said it but don't know if you feel the same”_

Three weeks had passed since the stormy night in Nini’s room. Summer was in full swing and she had just finished packing the last of what she needed for theatre camp. As she locked up her trunk, she grabbed her phone and hopped onto her bed. She had missed several texts from Kourtney asking about dinner plans and begging to see her one more time before she left for a month. She sent off a quick text to Kourtney about dinner and glanced around her room, eyes landing on an old picture of her and Ricky from the time they spent the day skiing when they were 12.

She got off her bed and reached for the picture. Running her fingers over it, she smiled at how they looked like giant colorful marshmallows in their snow suits. She remembered how much their moms fret over staying warm when Ricky tried to convince them he was too cool for it, that he wanted to be like the high school guys and ski in a jersey and jeans. In the picture, his arms are wrapped protectively around her as they both smiled brightly at the camera. Their signature pose, as his dad would say.

Nini didn’t even realize a tear had escaped her eye until she was wiping it away. There would be moments where she was okay, or as okay as someone who had just lost their best friend of 12 years could be, but more often than not she would catch herself thinking about him. Thinking about what he was doing at that moment, how his finals went, or how he was dealing with his mom going back to Chicago.

She reached for her phone once again and opened her messages. She scrolled to find his name and was reminded that the last time he texted her was to tell her to meet at his locker after school so they could walk to her house together. Nini’s fingers brushed over the letters on the screen before hovering over the send button.

“i miss you” She had typed out.

But then the events of three weeks ago flooded her memory, reminding her that she no longer had a right to miss him. She deleted the message quickly and tossed her phone on her bed. “No, he doesn’t feel the same way you do, Nini. Not anymore.” She uttered to herself. 


End file.
